Twilight casts Paul Newman as a former police detective, former private detective now living as a family retainer to glamorous movie star couple Gene Hackman and Susan Sarandon. He's living with them because he was hurt on the job when after being hired to bring back their daughter Reese Witherspoon from running away with Liev Schreiber, Reese accidentally shoots Newman. Don't ask for the circumstances, they have to be seen.
Anyway because of what Reese did, Newman is living with her family and one day, he's asked to deliver a package by Hackman to a woman. At the location he finds a fatally shot M. Emmett Walsh still able to shoot at Newman. That sends the whole plot starting which involves the disappearance of a prominent actor and Sarandon's former husband twenty years before.
Imagine Philip Marlowe now middle-aged, but entering senior citizenry and you've got Paul Newman in this part. Actually Newman was 74 when he did this role, but could have passed for a dozen years younger. Better still imagine Newman's own Harper which he did in two films and you have a better example.
Director Robert Benton assembled a really crackerjack cast in support of those already mentioned. Keep note for James Garner as another retired cop turned private eye, though someone nothing like Jim Rockford, Stockard Channing as Newman's former partner at the LAPD, John Spencer as Channing's boss who would like some explanations as some bodies start to pile up around Newman.
Most of all note Margo Martindale who was the woman Newman was supposed to deliver the package to. Note her relationship, personal and professional to at least one other of the cast members. It's a really touching performance of a lonely and frustrated woman.
Up to the end of his life, the quality of Paul Newman's work never went down even if he did a clunker or two among his films. Twilight is a perfect example of what I just said.
Twilight
1998
Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller
Plot summary
Retired ex-cop and private detective Harry Ross (Paul Newman),who lives with rich actor Jack Ames (Gene Hackman),who is dying from cancer and his actress wife Catherine (Susan Sarandon) gets mixed up in murder when he is asked to deliver blackmail money. He walks into a twenty-year-old case involving the mysterious disappearance of Catherine's former husband. Raymond Hope (James Garner) is another ex-cop who also does occasional errands for the couple.
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An Old Case Takes New Life
Decent story, great cast.
A retired Detective is given a simple job, but his seemingly easy task soon turns into a complex mystery.
It's just wonderful to find a film called Twilight that I actually liked.
It's a bit of a pot boiler, and by modern standards, it is somewhat old fashioned, but it works, I've read a few savage reviews, but I quite liked it.
It's quite a mature cast, but I enjoy that for a change, it's nice to see a group of Detectives that aren't fast tracked children for a change. Newman, Hackman and Sarandon are all great, the acting is faultless.
Overall, I would say, a decent story is elevated by a particularly capable cast, 7/10.
The Magic Hour
Twilight is a slow burn modern film noir. A more laid back version of LA Confidential. The first scenes feature a young Reese Witherspoon and Liev Schreiber in Mexico with Paul Newman that leaves Newman injured. We then go forward a few years.
Harry Ross (Newman) is a down on his luck detective with an injury and not much money. He lives in California in the guest quarters of Witherspoon's wealthy parents who are his old friends and former film industry executives now in the twilight of their years. Jack (Gene Hackman) is dying of cancer and he and Ross pass time playing cards.
Jack asks Harry to deliver a package in Los Angeles. When Harry arrives to deliver the package he encounters a shot man named who turns out to be a former detective. This begins a chain of events involving a past case that led to the disappearance of Catherine's (Susan Sarandon) ex- husband.
Harry realises that his friends have been deceitful and manipulative of him. His old colleague Raymond (James Garner) tries to persuade Harry to get away from it all.
The film is about immoral people who are wealthy and wish to stay ahead and use others for their own means. As a pot boiler its slow, even meandering as there are betrayals and double crosses. What sustains it is the acting and with the four leads and some rising stars you watch it for the actors and the depth they provide.